Collect references. Take and share notes. Never read the same thing twice.

I started BibWiki while working on my Masters degree. I got fed up reading papers and not being able to remember what I read. I thought that was a complete waste. I thought a better idea would be to keep notes as I read in a place where I could retrieve them for future work or papers. My natural first choice was to use MeatballWiki, and you'll see citations littered throughout the wiki. However, that was not really an ideal solution since it was cluttering MeatballWiki with research unrelated to its core focus. Moreover, it was a clumsy solution.

This led me to try to create a new platform that was more ideally suited to reference collection. I also wanted to create a very usable interface. And I want it to be lucrative so I can afford to devote my time and attention to it. Moreover, it has to be profitable in order to keep growing. -- SunirShah

Just reading Tim Berner's Lee: Weaving the Web, this reminds me on his early software Enquire 1980, which first served his personal information needs but developed later into the Web, as we know it. -- FridemarPache

I've been wrestling with the idea of eliminating the word wiki from the branding. I cannot deny it remains a powerful word for me, but testing it with people hasn't panned out. For one, it speaks more of the TechnologySolution than the CustomerProblem?. Second, it might be construed on an attack on WikiPedia--which may or may not be a bad thing to do from a BrandPosition?ing point of view. Third, wikis are a turn off to almost everybody. Fourth, constraining it to be a "wiki" limits my creativity and invites others to attack it for not being wiki enough.

At Gluecon last week (May 11-14, 2009), I was convinced further of this over drinks with DavidWeekly when we were discussing the recent change of PBWiki (PeanutButterWiki) to PBWorks. He claimed that people expect wikis to be free, but they don't expect enterprise collaboration tools to be. I have now registered http://www.bibdex.com, as I think that may convey the intent better. We'll see. -- SunirShah